Saints Row’s Red Faction Easter egg reads like a condemnation of crunch
It’s a minor miracle Saints Row has returned after a turbulent move to a new publisher, a nearly decade-long hiatus, and a botched spinoff. It’s fitting then that the latest entry’s largest Easter egg celebrates a dormant video game franchise that hasn’t been so lucky.
The new Saints Rowreboots the 15-year-old series, trading its coastal metropolis open worlds of the past for a sunbaked American southwest, a fictional city inspired heavily by Las Vegas and the surrounding Clark County. To give the setting depth, the game’s writers and world builders dropped historical placards throughout various parks, monuments, and landmarks. The signs, when tapped, dish brief backstory about the area’s culture and politics through tinny speakers.
My favorite historical destination is the Red Faction Memorial Park. Located a short drive from the hero’s first safe house, the park is a not-so-subtle celebration of the Red Faction series, also created by Saints Row developer Volition.
In Saints Row’s story, the Red Faction is a band of striking workers who, on May 22, 2001, “sought to end inhumane working conditions and unethical human experiments.” The Ultor Corporation squashed the revolt, but the park — a brutalist cement pond staged around a stone spire — honors their resistance. Alongside the park sits the Red Faction Brew Works brewery, its logo resembling the original Red Faction logo with a fist clenched around a pint of beer rather than a pickaxe.
Related
In real life, Red Faction was a sci-fi franchise that debuted on May 22, 2001, and culminated in 2011 with Red Faction: Armageddon. While its best entry, Red Faction: Guerrilla, recently received a remaster, the series has been otherwise neglected as its rights shuttled
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